September 1, 2014 AT 2:00 am

Arduino Controlled Lego Lighthouse Tutorial

Learn how to build a functioning lego lighthouse from this awesome tutorial by yoda333 on instructables!

Lighthouses have been guiding boats to safety for thousands of years. One of the earliest and most notable of these was the Pharos of Alexandria. This huge structure stood for nearly two thousand years. When deciding on a lego project, I wanted to build something practical, yet at the same time fun. Although I won’t be showing you how to build one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, I will show you how to construct a lego lighthouse, which is a wonder in its own right.

My lighthouse is a fully automated, fully functional structure. Although it won’t be warning boats, it will be able to guide your steps during the darkest of nights. The light and motor inside the lantern room automatically turn on during low light levels. Also, the tri-colored LED can be adjusted between solid white light and alternating colors.

The purpose of this instructable is to instruct you on how to wire the electronics and think about the structure of the lighthouse. Although my instructions are detailed, I left room for customization. Making it according to the instructions makes this build functional, but building a custom lighthouse with your own colors, shapes, and designes makes it your own. I leave wiggle room for the building portion of the project, because I want you all to build your own lighthouses.